Science & Technology

Washington University researchers have developed algorithms to identify weak spots in tendons, muscles and bones prone to tearing or breaking. The technology, which needs to be refined before it is used in patients, one day may help pinpoint minor strains and tiny injuries in the body’s tissues long before bigger problems occur.

The inaugural Health and Engineeering Careers Summer Camp took place in late July at West Side Missionary Baptist Church in St. Louis. Numerous Washington University in St. Louis groups co-sponsored the event, which aimed to encourage underrepresented children to focus on science and math subjects. Here, 10-year-old Deja Stallworth proudly shows off the robot she made.

In the past 10 years an active-learning course, called “Active Physics,” has gradually displaced lecture-based introductory courses in physics at Washington University in St. Louis. But are active-learning techniques effective when they are scaled up to large classes? A comprehensive three-year evaluation suggests that “Active Physics” consistently produces more proficient and confident students than the lecture courses it is replacing.

In March 2010, the ice sheets in Antarctica vibrated a bit more than usual as a surface wave from an 8.8-magnitude earthquake in Chile 3,000 kilometers away passed through the ice. Powerful earthquakes were known to trigger secondary quakes along faults in land; this was the first observation of triggered quakes in the ice. Washington University in St. Louis seismologist Doug Wiens says the finding is one of several discoveries made possible by POLENET, an array of seismic stations that reaches for the first time into the interior of Antarctica.

The electric car charging station in front of Brauer and Whitaker halls on the Washington University in St. Louis campus is now getting a boost from the sun after workers installed solar panels atop the structure July 30. In addition to bolstering the university’s commitment to sustainability, the station is connected to research in its School of Engineering & Applied Science.​

As part of a multi-institutional $20 million effort, researchers at Washington University in St. Louis will conduct several studies, including one that uses medical imaging on plants to see what’s broken or about to break inside (pictured). Four university researchers will receive funding from the National Science Foundation to support work aimed at helping Missouri plants and crops adapt to climate variability.

H. Holden Thorp, PhD, provost of Washington University in St. Louis, led a National Research  Council committee that published a report July 31 on lab safety in academic research. He says the most important takeway is that a holistic approach is needed.

What paths do quantum particles, such as atoms or photons, follow through quantum state space? Kater Murch of Washington University in St. Louis has used a superconducting quantum device to continuously and repeatedly record the paths the device took through quantum state space. From the cobweb of a million paths, a most likely path between two quantum states emerged, much as social trails emerge as people round off corners or cut across lawns between buildings. The research is featured on the cover of the July 31 issue of Nature.

The recent birth of a female Grevy’s zebra foal at the Saint Louis Zoo marks another milestone in a long-running Washington University in St. Louis research partnership that is making significant contributions to the preservation of Grevy’s zebra and the equally endangered African wild ass.

Barbara Schaal, PhD, dean of the Faculty of Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis and the Mary-Dell Chilton Distinguished Professor, is one of 15 scientists from academia and industry named to the new Foundation for Food and Agricultural Research. U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the foundation July 23.